2 Kings 12:4

The Temple to Be Repaired

4 Then Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the sacred things 1which is brought into the house of the LORD, in current money, both 2the money of each man's assessment and all the money which any man's heart prompts * him to bring into the house of the LORD,

2 Kings 12:4 Meaning and Commentary

2 Kings 12:4

And Jehoash said to the priests
Being minded or having it in his heart, to repair the temple, as in ( 2 Chronicles 24:4 ) not only because it was the sanctuary of the Lord, though that chiefly, but because it had been a sanctuary to him, where he was hid and preserved six years:

all the money of the dedicated things that is brought into the house of
the Lord:
or rather, "that is to be brought", as De Dieu, and others render it, the particulars of which follow:

even the money of everyone that passeth [the account];
or that passeth among them that are numbered, as in ( Exodus 30:13 Exodus 30:14 ) that were upwards of twenty years of age, and bound to pay the half shekel for the ransom of their souls; and it is called the collection or burden Moses laid on them in the wilderness, ( 2 Chronicles 24:6 2 Chronicles 24:9 )

the money that every man is set at;
the price the priest set upon or estimated a man at, or whomsoever that belonged to him, that he devoted to the Lord, which by the law he was bound to pay for his redemption, and, till that was done, he and they were not his, but the Lord's, of which see ( Leviticus 27:1-8 ) and here the Targum calls it, the money of the redemption of souls, which is the gift of a man for the redemption of his soul:

and all the money that cometh into any man's heart to bring into the
house of the Lord:
vows and freewill offerings made of their own accord.

2 Kings 12:4 In-Context

2 Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
3 Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
4 Then Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the sacred things which is brought into the house of the LORD , in current money, both the money of each man's assessment and all the money which any man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the LORD ,
5 let the priests take it for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the damages of the house wherever any damage may be found."
6 But it came about that in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damages of the house.

Cross References 2

  • 1. 2 Kings 22:4
  • 2. Exodus 30:13-16; Exodus 35:5, 22, 29; 1 Chronicles 29:3-9

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Lit "which it comes into...to bring"
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